Review: My Name Is Emily

The last couple of years have seen an unprecedented jump in quality as far as Irish films are concerned. The likes of Patrick’s Day, Brooklyn and Room have all proven that seeing an Irish Film Board logo appear at the start of a movie is no longer a sure fire sign that you would be better off fleeing the cinema and taking up a new hobby. With confidence in Irish film riding at an all time high, there could hardly be a better time for My Name Is Emily to appear in the nation’s cinemas. It’s a coming of age drama about a pair of young misfits going on a road trip of self-discovery (and a quest to release an eccentric writer from a mental asylum). A synopsis like that would most certainly make for a good film, if only My Name Is Emily could pull its head out of its own arse.

One of the basic tenants of making a watchable film is to have a likeable, or in rare exceptions to this rule (like Nightcrawler), a fascinating lead character to hold things together. After all, this is the person who the audience will have to focus on for the majority of their viewing experience. In this sense, My Name Is Emily falls at the very first hurdle, giving us a protagonist who spends most of her time delivering excruciating monologues so pretentious and pseudo-intellectual that she does not feel even remotely human. One section in particular has her rambling on about how there are no such things as facts because that kind of thinking leads to atomic bombs (no really, this happens in the film and its not even meant as a joke). She’s also something of a hypocrite. In one scene she refuses to do a school assignment where she is required to assess a piece of poetry. She explains that, “If you cut something up, it dies”, only then to launch into her own long-winded appraisal of said poem, immediately doing exactly what she just cited as being so abhorrent. Why anyone, fictional character or moviegoer, would want to spend time with such a self-righteous know it all, much less go on a muli-day road trip with them, beggars belief.

The problem is compounded by the fact that lead actor Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films) puts in a pretty dire performance in the titular role. She’s meant to come across as a tortured soul with a guarded but enchanting misdemeanour, but instead ends up delivering most of her lines with the gusto of someone reciting their English homework. It is hard to say if she was out of her depth playing the main part in a feature film or if the wobbly dialogue she had to deliver was so painful to utter that she had to assume a persona of nonchalance just to get through the day on set.

Despite being less than 100 minutes in length, My Name Is Emily feels overly long and rambly. Our pair of leads drift from place to place, having uninteresting misadventures. To break up the dullness, there are dashes of humour thrown in here and there, but its not exactly inspired stuff. After all, there are only so many times you can see Michael Smiley prancing around in the nip before even that gets boring. There is also a moment of attempted peril in the final act, where the duo of self-discoverers encounter a band of wandering rapists. Even this potentially terrifying sequence is handled with all the grace of a man whose hands are made from packets of ham and simply ends up feeling as bland and uninspired as the rest of the film.

Redeeming factors in a film such as My Name Is Emily are few and far between. One highlight however, is the film’s production values. Despite being made on a very low budget, the movie is lovely to look at, with a very nice colour palette and some exceptionally good set design. The sound too is worthy of note, especially considering much of the dialogue takes place inside a moving car (would it be cheeky to say the sound recordist could have done us all a favour by turning off the mic during some of the more groan-inducing back and forths?). Indeed, the production’s crew can hold their heads up high in the knowledge that they upheld their end of the bargain, even if they were seemingly duped into working on what must be the worst Irish film to get a mainstream cinema release in quite some time.

In a year when Irish films found themselves up for no less than six Oscars, My Name Is Emily harks back to a time when Irish-made films were a chore to attend. People watched them out of a sense of obligation to support their neighbours, as opposed to simply enjoying them as fine pieces of art and/or entertainment.

Try this if you like:

Little Miss Sunshine (but felt the characters could have done with being considerably more irritating)

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About The Author

Sean is Geek Ireland's resident dinosaur enthusiast, having been fascinated by prehistory since a time before he could read, speak or stand in an upright position (he still struggles to do at least one of these things on a daily basis).
Known as one of the biggest dinosaur fans Ireland has ever produced, Sean has delivered talks on his favourite subject at many venues and events including the Irish Film Institute, the UCD Science Expression Festival, Tayto Park, Dublin Comic Con and even London's Comedy Store.

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we're banking on this being the best

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we’re banking on this being the best gaming event in Ireland during 2018!